Home > Consumer Reviews > Rio Chiba 128 MB MP3 Player

There are several reasons for my selection of this RIO as my player of choice and I will explain as best I can. So read this review in its entirety.Before ever owning the RIO Chiba 256M, the first MP3 player I had ever tried was indeed a RIO (the RIO 800 128M model before the new line of RIO MP3 players were recently put out on the market).The look and size was as instrumental in my choosing of any MP3 player back then (as it is now). I was frustrated with bulky discman CD players for years....because the bottom line is you CANNOT wear them without skipping at some point (no matter how long the anti-skip protection is) or major player instability while attached to your body. These were MAJOR issues for me. So it was no mystery that I sincerely enjoyed the RIO 128M model especially because of its SIZE and the wonderfully convenient BELT CLIP!! It turned out however that after using this 128 M RIO player for about a month I had found myself longing for more songs thereby larger internal memory.It was then that I visited the RIO website and discovered the new line of MP3 players with the RIO Chiba 256 soon to come out. I concluded 256M would be enough internal memory for me so while waiting for the RIO Chiba 256 to become available, I tried and subsequently returned MP3 players from IRiver, Samsung, RCA, and Creative Labs.All had plenty of "bells and whistles" for features but none had the shear small size advantage AND compactness (belt clip convenience) of the RIO 128M model I used to own. The general EASE OF USE(ridiculously easy), battery-life saving feature (all RIO players shut off within 5 minutes of inactivity by default), great sound quality via the more advanced graphic equalizer, as well as a very attractive blue-backlit LCD screen were other secondary but still significant advantages the RIO model had, those other players did not! When the RIO Chiba 256 finally did come out I purchased one without a second thought.

And now I'd like to add something!All these reviews of "cheap this, cheap that" are frankly nausseating if not comical!!People, you do not purchase this or any MP3 player to lose sleep over "what material its made out of" or "what would happen if i dropped it compared to another model".Yes, this player is not made of some space age plastic or material but no MP3 player is.The reality is this player has SOLID construction. It is sold at 199.99 on the RIO website and not counting participating department store discounts(about 20 or 30 bucks) such as Circuit City, for a $200 dollar value you can rest assured you are getting something of good foundational quality)!AND it designed to be used and carried around LATCHED in the provided beltclip compartment.Once its secure in the beltclip compartment and latched on to you via your belt, there are no issues with battery compartment looseness and very little chance of the user dropping the player.Wow, imagine that...a beltclip,what a concept!!Yes indeed everyone is still clumsy at somepoint.Regardless I have dropped my model at least ten times since I purchased it, it remains in one piece AND the sound quality remains exceptionally!C'mon people, have a little practicality in your reviews!!!

Ease of use is OK, however the included RIO MP3 transfer("ripping")software has ONE flaw, it doesn't recognize every MP3 or WMA music file you have.The solution to this problem is very simple.Uninstall the RIO software if you have already loaded it, then download and use Windows Media Player 9.0 for your Chiba's transfering needs.Windows Media Player 9.0 recognizes and plays EVERY music file,including all the ones the Real Player can.I find it to be of higher quality and more reliable than Real Player(in regards to suddenly shutting/closing down due to bugs in Windows XP).

The best headphones for this player ARE NOT the included Senheisser earbuds, but rather Sony, the SON MDRW08L model to be exact.I would highly recommend you invest the $10 bucks these sell for. You will find out within 15 minutes of use why these are 5000 times more comfortable than the included "ear soreing" Senheissers not to mention complement your Chiba's graphic equalizer settings with ridiculously crystal clear sound(due to Neodynium magnets for sounddrivers in each earpiece).

I have been using the Chiba for about 5 months now, I believe for beginners or advanced MP3 player enthusiasts alike RIO makes the best overall MP3 player on the market!!

I'll start off by stating that this is the first MP3 player I've bought. That said, I'd like to address some issues other reviewers have mentioned in relation to my own experience.

Issue 1.) Insufficient volume.
Rebut 1.) Sure, if you have a need to blow out your eardrums. I find the volume more than suffient. Mention of insufficient volume in other reviews left me hesitant to purchase. If you like your music painful then perhaps this product isn't for you. Otherwise I think you'll be quite satisfied with the output it provides. Further, I'll offer a kludge method you can use to pump up the output further. Simply go into the equalizer settings, select 'custom', move all equilizer bars to max and adjust downward. Seems to nearly double the output volume on mine.

Issue 2.) Battery cover doesn't snap into place with much conviction.
Rebut 2.) As one reviewer mentioned, this isn't an issue when you have the case (which comes with the unit) on, and because the case (in my opinion) fits well, feels good, and is sturdy, you'll probably want to leave it on all the time anyway. This _nearly_ renders the problem a 'non'. However, you do have to take off the case when hooking it to the USB cable, so the issue does bear some merit though it's far outweighed by the positives this unit offers. Finally, on this issue, I test dropped the unit from shoulder height. It took about five drops to knock the batter cover off. A very tiny piece of tape prevents even that.

Issue 3.) Headphones are not of sufficient quality.
Rubut 3.) They're not ultra high end but I consider them quite good enough to use all the time. You could certainly go higher end but they're far better than the defaults that come with many products. I consider that a forethought on their part - one I appreciate.

Issue 4.) Short battery life.
Rebut 4.) Nonsense. Battery life is excellent. About twice as long on a single AAA compared to my CDMan on multiple AA's.

Now on to my own pros and cons:

Pro 1.) Outstanding sound quality with MP3 file types at 128kbps sample rate or higher. The provided software doesn't come with an MP3 encoder - BUT - they do provide a link in the help file where you can download one. You'll need the unit's serial number to do so (it's inside the battery compartment).

Con 1.) Not so great sound quality using windows media format files. Most notably the intro (first second or so) of songs go so far as to crackle or distort. I'm not overly bothered by this since I have a bit of a peeve with Microsoft for pissing their own version of every format around. Example - .MPG's are great; Microsoft prefers it's own .WMV format. And the list goes on. Knock it off Microsoft - getting sick and tired of a new format from you for every standardized one that comes out from someone else - it just adds to the muck. *soapbox off*

Pro 2.) It comes with a builtin FM tuner.
Con 2.) Reception could be better.

Pro 3.) Included software is easy to use.
Con 3.) Conversion from rip to encode is slow, as is USB data rate. Not a major hit in my book - it would just be nice if they could speed that up a bit.

Pro 4.) Unit is ultra light. You can actually twirl it around on the end of the earphone plug while you're listening to it if you get bored. NOTE: That's a 'could do' but not a 'recommend do'.
Con 4.) None.

Pro 5.) Case comes with a belt clip that works well.
Con 5.) No armstrap. This would be nice considering you can't easily see what selection you're choosing when the unit is upside down and on your belt. You can if you buy an armstrap and wear it there.

Overall I'm impressed and have been liberated from my Sony portable CD player by this device. I haven't dealt with Rio support so I can't comment on that.

Kudos to Rio and to everyone who reviewed this product here at Amazon.

I've had this for about six months now, so I feel I can review it fairly accurately. It's a standard flash based MP3 player with 256 megs internal memory and an expansion slot.
Syncing isn't a problem, it goes fine using Media Player Nine or Ten (I have multiple devices that I need to sync, so I just always use Media Player--then I don't need to learn several different software suites).

The sound quality is fine, although I do reccomend buying better headphones for maybe 10-20 bucks--the bundled ones aren't all that good. Navigation in the player is a breeze, and the controls took me maybe 10 minutes to learn, if that, even before I read the manual. It's easy to go in and change any settings, set the time, etc. if you feel the need to do so. The manual that comes on CD is sufficient to teach you how to fully use your player. If only most computers and techie toys came with manuals like that--not elegent, but it gets the job done well.

Given how cheap even 512 memory cards have gotten, it's feasible to turn this into a 768 meg player real quick. Without a card, it holds about 65 songs at a 128 bit rate. It's not got the capacity of hard drive players, but it's cheaper, and it doesn't skip, which is good for those of us who tend to drop them, and/or use them during physical activity.
Battery life is great; I've been using it for 3 30 minutes bike sessions a week for over a month (although I have missed one or two), plus in between classes at college; haven't replaced it yet. The machine seems durable enough; it shrugged of a glancing blow when I dropped a 10 lb. plate on it in the gym (the plate slipped outta my hands while I was cleaning up) . It's not as solid as a rock, but stands up completly fine to day-to-day use.
If you want a good, inexpensive flash based player this is a solid choice

A list of pros and cons for the Rio Chiba 256MB MP3 Player

Problems:

1. You can't select just one song to play, you have to scroll through a list of songs alphabetically to find it. However, this problem can be solved by creating playlists for each Artist. Now you simply scroll through the songs within the playlist to find the song you want.

2. Many people were frustrated with the automatic alpha-numeric order the player puts your songs into. You used to have to add a 1, 2, 3, etc. before each song in the order you wanted the songs to play. This was a pain because it required you to rename each song. This issue has been resolved by a simple fix in the software. You can simply click and drag the songs to the order you want them in.

3. The EQualizer presets really aren't that great, but it does have a custom option which allows you to adjust it to the levels you prefer. You can squeeze a suprising amount of sound out of this bad-boy!

Now let me give the player a few positives: (give it it's props)

1.It has a decent Tuner with 8 programmable save slots for your favorite stations
2.Enough music space to prevent from song-overplay-boredom. You can upgrade to up to 1 GB of space with (seperately purchased) SD cards.
3.Loud enough to block out the outside world
4.Easy software to work with
5.Easy to navigate through
6.CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP! I purchased mine from a great ebay seller for 79 bucks, that included shipping, insurance, warranty, and a package that landed on my doorstep 2 days later. Sorry Amazon, but I don't have a credit card, and you don't accept bank-connected online payments like PAYPAL.
7.Super small (about 1/2 the size of the average computer mouse)
8.Super light: unlike the brick known as iPod, the Chiba is so light I have to constantly check that it's still connected to my pants while on the treadmill

I hope this review helped you make your selection.

I'll try to add a little to what has already been written in other reviews. I've been holding out for quite sometime to make a decision between small, lightweight, long battery life MP3 players with limited memory, or ones that are a bit larger, heavier, and have hard-drives big enough to hold my own CD collection. In the end, I chose "small" because my PC is the better place to hold my library, that's where I make the MP3s anyway, and I use the PC like a stereo these days. This Chiba is super small and lightweight, no bigger than the Palm of my hand, fits easily in a pocket, and AAA battery life is great. 256MB + optional 512MB expansion is plenty for my listening habits (on the train to/from work, or exercising <-ha). The built in FM tuner with presets is a big plus too, and WMA support means it's supporting a great deal of online music you can buy.

I find the controls and display very easy to use. Another review complained that they were prone to error, but there is a lock button to prevent that! Read the manual, it's short and useful. The Rio Chiba software does, in fact, suck. I use MusicMatch, and it is compatible "out of the box" with the Chiba, but I find their playlists somewhat incompatible, and I still choose to use the Rio software to upload my playlists to the Chiba because it has a size calculator. Other than that, the software is really, really miserable (though it did read and find my library correctly). It's the weakest link, goodbye.

I don't find the construction to be as weak as others have indicated, though I agree that the battery lid does not *seem* secure (but I think it is). The belt clip must have been made with people who wear belts made of tissue in mind. But the little clip case itself should provide enough protection to ease your mind about shock.

I found the headphones great, and the volume impressive. Ultimately, I may try to find more comfortable earbud-type headphones than the Sennheisers. Audio quality is excellent, the equalizer is a nice touch.

I would encourage Digital Networks (and any purchaser of the Chiba) to get some better software. But failing that, I think that most users who favor lightweight portability, an FM tuner, and the minimum acceptable onboard memory (to me, anything less than 256 is useless) will find the Chiba a great deal if you can get it for $150 - 160, especially if you already have your own software and music subscription.